Originally Posted By: McflyOriginally Posted By: SnowmanMo A dirty barrel shoots better...within reason.
It sounds like you use "dirty" and "fouled" synonymously. What would you call an excessively fouled barrel?
To me, a dirty barrel is showing signs of excessive fouling. Just curious
There are some differences in terminology and one does have to be careful how it is used. During firearms safety training a "fouled" barrel used to be one that is obstructed. But in other circles "fouled" means just dirty. So terminology has been changed a bot to be clear. We now use the term "obstructed" to indicate an unsafe condition in the barrel. Dirt is subjective. Could be powder residue, lead or copper residue or just plain dirt. So sometimes we change the terms so that the audience we are talking to is clear about what we are trying to convey.
There isn't really an amount of "dirt" or "fouling" that is acceptable. Shoot it until your accuracy drops, the clean it, shoot it and keep shooting until the accuracy drops again.
I had a friend who shot his .204 for over 500 rounds without cleaning. Then when we were shooting to verify zero his groups went crazy. Went home, cleaned it and his groups tightened right back up.
During a precision rifle shooting class we had guys that were cleaning their rifles between evolutions. When the discussion came up about when to clean, they were challenged to shoot their rifles while "dirty" then again after cleaning between evolutions. They were shocked that their groups stayed so tight even when firing from a dirty rifle.
There are inconsistencies in the machining of any barrel. Barrel break-in is a controversial topic because some manufacturers recommend it while others do not. During break-in most manufacturers will recommend removing copper fouling between shots so that the barrel can break-in evenly and correctly. After the break-in you do not have to clean between shots. Copper and lead will fill in those inconsistencies and make for a better surface, to a point. If there is too much fouling then it will effect the accuracy.
The barrels do not seem to suffer from the same increased fouling as the rest of the firearm does when suppressed. My bores look just fine while the cartridge in the chamber and the magazine show excessive carbon build up.